Taking the long hose plunge!

[Jim Baldwin]

I've decided it's time to E-Bay the AIR II and swith to a long hose / bungied octo setup. So, I have ordered a 5' hose. I currently own an ATX 200 which has a 24'' hose on it. I plan on using the 24'' hose for my octo. What is a good reg to purchase as a bungied octo? Any hints on attaching the octo to a bungie?

I also am going dry at the same time, so I assume my 1st stage has enough ports for all of these new LP hoses that I will be adding. I believe my 5' hose is 3/4''.

When I do a search for this, I get about 10 pages of stuff...

I have been diving BP/W setups for a quite a few years and now have three. Two for singles and one for doubles. In diving the long hose be it 5 or 7 foot you will get questions from other divers so be prepared.

Show them the advantages and explain why you use the gear you do. You might also consider a shorter hose for your octo say in the 16 to 22 inch range. I have a 16 that doesn't protude out past my shoulders while my buddy dives an 18. You just want enough to allow it to hang under your chin.

Attaching the bungee is easy. Get a piece of 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch bungee about two feet long. It's sold on the roll at my local hardware store. This will allow you to get plenty of adjustment. Cut off the zip tie around your mouthpiece.

Position the bungee around your neck and hold the reg in place to see where it will hang. Allow just enough that you will be able to strech the bungee around your head and mask. Then simply snug down the zip tie. Make sure the fit is right and then tighten with a pair of pliers and cut off the end of the zip tie. Allow a couple of inches of bungee to protude past the zip tie. This will help if you find it's too tight later or for a little slippage.

 

[OneBrightGator]

ATX 40 would be an excellent choice for a backup.

Use two slipknots or a ziptie with knots behind the ziptie for a necklace, the links provided are good.

Keep in mind one of your LP ports on your first stage is 1/2" (if you haven't changed anything then it's the one your primary is on) the rest will be 3/8", which is the common size, so if you put your backup on your current primary hose you will be good to go. Also, before you go shorter check the length, 24" should be perfectly fine.

 

[Scared Silly]

Recently I switched to 5' hose and notice that it has larger diameter than the original, by 1/8". I tried to see if it was positively buoyant or not - test in the sink was not conclsive. But the larger diameter I thought strange.

Also, although my current reg has 1/2 port I got a 3/8 with a 1/2 to 3/8 addapter. I did this because we might be switches regs soon.

Comments??

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Some hoses are just larger in diameter than others.

All scuba hoses are also rated to 250 lbs with a burst pressure around 400 psi. but some are rated to a bit more. It's a trade off between strenght and flexibility so I am usually more concerned with flexibility than diameter. You may find a 120 elbow is handy on a less flexible hose to reduce the angle it has to make from the second stage outlet around the back of your neck by 60 degrees.

1/2" hoses are a major pain. They are one of those ideas that sound good but that in reality offer absolutely no practical benefit in terms of flow rate. The limiting factor is still the size of the second stage orifice and the lenght of even a 7' hose is far too short to provide any flow rate advantage with a 1/2" hose over a 3/8" hose. What they do cause is major compatibility headaches and the resulting adapters just add an extra o-ring and another 3/4" of inflexible connector on the hose. Most reg makers are moving way from that port size anyway and returing to 3/8" so you did good.